Michael Sheldon

Michael Sheldon

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Software Engineer

I hold a first class degree in software engineering and a PhD focusing on artificial intelligence and robotics.
I have been heavily involved in a number of open source projects, including the (and GNU FM) music sharing site, the Jokosher audio editor and the GStreamer multimedia framework. Further examples of my work in the open source world, commercially and in academic research can be seen on my Portfolio page.
Now that my research work is complete I've decided to return to freelancing as it provides the flexibility for me to work on a wide range of different projects, whilst still leaving time for my voluntary open source contributions.

Experience

Research Assistant

Aberystwyth University
Mar 2012
- Sep 2012
(6 months)

I was employed on a short contract to assist in an investigation into developmental learning and intrinsic motivation on the iCub humanoid robot platform. During which I assisted in the integration of the PSchema learning framework which I had developed as part of my PhD research.

Part-time demonstrator and tutor

Aberystwyth University
Sep 2008
- Mar 2012
(3 years)

Whilst studying for my PhD I also ran practical lab sessions for undergraduate students, gave a number of lectures and acted as a personal tutor for roughly 12 students each year.

Developer

Credativ
Jul 2006
- Aug 2007
(1 year)

I primarily worked on the Horde and Kolab groupware systems, and helped to maintain a number of installations as part of a pilot program with the German government.

Education

BEng Software Engineer (First Class)

2004
- 2008
(4 years)

PhD in Developmental Robotics

2008
- 2012
(4 years)

Publications

A developmental approach to the emergence of communication in socially situated embodied agents

IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning 2010

This paper reports on a developmental approach to the learning of communication in embodied agents, taking inspiration from child development and recent advances in the understanding of the mirror neuron system within the brain. We describe a part of the ROSSI project which focuses upon gestural communication in the form of pointing. We are examining the idea that pointing may be a key step towards simple spoken communication and exploring the internal representations that may be formed during this process.

IEEE Joint International Conference on Development and Learning, and Epigenetic Robotics 2011

In this paper we introduce PSchema, a framework for Piagetian schema learning which allows for the direct use of symbolic schema learning in a robotic environment. We show the benefit of a developmental progression to aid in the learning of the system and introduce a generalisation mechanism which further increases the capabilities of these techniques. Using a robotic arm we demonstrate the system's ability to learn to touch objects placed in front of it and how it can represent the knowledge gained.

An infant inspired model of reaching for a humanoid robot

IEEE Joint International Conference on Development and Learning, and Epigenetic Robotics 2012

In this paper we outline the biological and psychological processes behind a sequence of development leading to early manipulative behaviour and including the learning of saccade control, gaze control, torso control, and visually elicited reaching and grasping in 3D space. Our implementation on an iCub robot produces reaching and manipulation behaviours from scratch in around 2.5 hours.